THERESE Rein will be a keynote speaker at a major workplace health and safety conference in Newcastle on March 15-16.

Ms Rein, founder of global employment and business psychology services company Ingeus and wife of former prime minister Kevin Rudd, will speak at the inaugural NSW Regional Safety Conference and Expo.

Event organiser Sarah-Jane Dunford said regionally-based WHS professionals could learn new tools to help address the high cost of work-related injury and illness.

“Data shows there were over 530,000 work related illness and injuries in NSW in 2015 and in 2016 NSW recorded the highest number of workplace fatalities – that’s 53 people who didn’t make it home from work,” Ms Dunford said.